I’m elated to have Abby VanWormer here today. She wrote a great comment on my blog (she’s so faithful that way) that I felt would be a great benefit to you! You can follow Abby on Twitter here.
…
Wouldn’t it be nice if everything in life made sense? You could explain anything. You would understand why things happen.
No lingering questions, no frustration of trying to figure something out that isn’t clicking. And probably a lot less worry. The problem is that things in life don’t always make sense. And if you’re like me, it’s very frustrating to ‘not get it.’
The list of things that bother me is endless.
- Why does the church do this?
- Why does the church do that?
- Why do Christians act that way?
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
It goes on and on. I look at people or situations or the church or life, and I start carrying all these things that irritate me. And it gets heavier and heavier, because I don’t want to let it go.
I want to GET it.
I want an ANSWER.
I want to UNDERSTAND.
I think about how something “should be,” but it’s not. And the more I think about things and realize how big these problems are, and how small I am, it simply becomes too much. It gets to the point where I can’t take it anymore.
And recently, that’s what I told God. “That’s it. I give up. I can’t take anymore.”
To be honest, I didn’t really expect a reply. But God heard me. And although it wasn’t an audible voice, the words spoken to my heart in that instant freed me from the load I’d been carrying.
He said, “Walk away from all that and walk toward Me.”
I felt like He was saying, “You weren’t meant to carry all of that. That’s my job. Don’t worry about the stuff you can’t change, the stuff that bothers you, the stuff you focus on that frustrates you. Just worry about me and you. I will take care of the rest.”
“…Just worry about me and you.”
A lot of things don’t make sense to me, but that got through. I can’t fix issues in the church that annoy me. I can’t change other people. I can’t explain the problem of evil.
But I can work on my relationship with God. I can spend time in the Word. I can pray. I can worship.
I don’t need to understand every single thing that happens in this life. I only need to know and trust the One who does. He’s God, and He’s got it taken care of. What a relief.
Q4u:
What about you? Are there things in your life that are hard to let go of? How do you stay motivated to make your relationship with God your everything?
